DETAILS: The council met yesterday (Sunday, 20 May) to discuss next steps and our strategy moving forward. Here is what you need to know now:

1. MARKETING COORDINATION (Mike): Our logo and graphics are in place on the website. And, more exciting, the video is now complete and it's fabulous! It will be released tomorrow (22 May). Once released, please share widely with your networks.

2. COMMUNICATION COORDINATION (Jessica): The website is receiving solid traction for its first week. We are continuing to make updates to the site. Most recently, we added an ‘UPDATES’ page for members to quickly see what’s been happening. In the press world, the VCP announcement garnered several key stories. We are now focusing our aims on international press. If you have any journalist leads in the international press, please PM Jessica.

3. SOCIAL MEDIA COORDINATION (Ashley): Ashley is working to promote some of our messages (e.g., petition; upcoming rally) via Facebook and had launched Project Real Stories – if you haven’t already, please send your story to her ASAP.

4. CORPORATE OUTREACH (Engelbert): The past week has seen significant movement in this space. Engelbert has now spoken with more than 30 companies and unions – along with regional think tanks, embassies, and chambers of commerce – about our position on the issue. We anticipate that several will publicly announce support in the coming days.

5. POLITICAL OUTREACH (Massi): Massi has reached out to members of the political parties to request meetings to discuss our position. Some meeting requests have been scheduled, others are still in the works but look promising.

6. LEGAL COORDINATION. We have identified a member of this group to take over the legal coordination role. She has joined our group and will begin this upcoming week. Meanwhile, Mike and Massi are taking meetings with lawyers to secure representation as well as the potential for a legal sentiment.

7. A DEAL IS A DEAL RALLY (Pavi): We will be delivering our petition to Parliament on 29 May midday. The exact time will be announced on May 24th (we are waiting for final information from the Gemeente). As part of this turnover, we are inviting 130 members of our community to join us for a rally. A sign-up will be made available shortly. We will require volunteers to assist with security and clean-up as well, so we ask you to consider these requests when signing up.

As a side note, some of you might have saw that – originally – there were plans for an event on May 26th as well. Our lobbyist advised us that, instead, it would be far more effective to have a larger rally after Prinsendag (when the tax plan is presented) and before the potential October debate. Our plan is to wait to see the influence of our current efforts, and depending upon that, plan for a larger rally in late September.

8. WHAT YOU CAN DO. Sign and Share the Petition (in all of your networks!), follow our Take Action Plan on the website, and submit YOUR STORY for Project Real Stories.

Check back soon for the official launch of our video, to sign-up for the rally, and to learn more about our efforts.